In the Middle Ages, slavery was a widespread phenomenon on the shores of the Mediterranean. It was everywhere, in towns and rural villages, in crafts and herding, in patrician palaces and in the more modest homes of artisans. Following on from works that have lifted the veil covering the practice of slavery in Christian Europe, Jean-Claude Hocquet has produced a fascinating study.
By reconstructing the work and daily lives of slaves, their origins, capture, markets and redemption procedures as closely as possible to the sources, he has created a veritable cartography of the slave trade. Initially confined to the waters of the Black Sea and the eastern Mediterranean, it moved on to the Balkan countries and Africa. Lisbon, Lagos, Seville and Cadiz became the main suppliers of colored slaves to Mediterranean Europe, while Genoa, Venice, Naples, Barcelona and Valencia became leading slave cities.
Above all, Jean-Claude Hocquet establishes that the spread of slavery was primarily intended to counter workers’ demands for higher wages, rather than to fill the demographic void caused by the Black Death of the mid-14th century. Religions were no obstacle to this practice, whether in Christian or Islamic lands.
A particularly detailed and well-documented study.
